IF THE SHOE FITS...
The hot shoe on top of an EOS camera is a standard connection that can accept a number of accessories. Speedlites are the most commonly used – not that having a flashgun directly above the lens gives the best results, of course. An off-camera shoe cord allows you to take the Speedlite away from the camera while maintaining the physical connection between the electrical connections on the hot shoe and the Speedlite’s hot shoe mounting foot.
For the ultimate in creative convenience, ditch the cord and attach awireless controller to the hot shoe; the Canon ST-E3-RT can fire up to 15 compatible Speedlites, for example.
A number of cameras in the mirrorless EOS R System range are fitted with Canon’s multi-function shoe instead of a standard hot shoe. This new design offers high-speed communication and enables compatible accessories such as the DM-E1 directional stereo microphone and Speedlite Transmitter ST-E10 to be powered by the camera battery. Some Speedlites and accessories designed for a regular hot shoe cannot be attached directly to the newer multi-function shoe.